Review: A Tale of Two Cities (Lifeline Theatre)

By Chicagotheaterbeat @chitheaterbeat

  
  
A Tale of Two Cities

Adapted by Christopher M. Walsh  
  from the novel by Charles Dickens 
Directed by Elise Kauzlaric
at Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood (map)
thru April 6   |  tickets: $20-$40   |  more info
  
Check for half-price tickets 
  
  
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Downsized retelling of a sweeping saga

     

  

Lifeline Theatre presents

  

A Tale of Two Cities

Review by John Olson

I was shocked to learn that my companion, a high school sophomore in 1984, was not required to read Dickens’ novel of the French Revolution in English class. I thought it was perennially required reading for all sophomore English classes, and why not? It’s a great introduction to Dickens, accessible and relatively short by Dickens’ standards.  If I recall correctly, despite our grumblings, my classmates and I all ended up sort of enjoying it. And why shouldn’t we? Isn’t high school, like Europe in the late 18th Century, “the best of times, the worst of times?” Just the thought of those two great cities, London and Paris – so close to yet so different from each other is irresistible. Set amidst the sweep of a popular uprising against effete royalty and aristocrats who meet their maker through the blade of the guillotine, there’s romance and action amidst the history. The novel’s dramatic appeal has been explored in countless feature films as well as in a (short-lived) Broadway musical. Lifeline Theatre’s adaptation by Christopher M. Walsh, performed by just ten actors, is a fairly spare production, but in the second act it manages to capture the sweep of Dickens’ story.

The ten actors play on a dark bi-level set of wood, brick and iron designed by Joe Schermoly. It serves well for scenes in Paris’s Bastille prison and the hovel-like wine shop of the villains M. and Mme. Defarge, but is too dark or forbidding to suggest the elegant London home of kind M. Manette or the country estate if the evil Marquis St. Evremonde. Roles are effectively double-cast; faces are obscured when actors double in minor characters, so there’s no confusion about who’s who. The first act is mostly a series of scenes between just a few characters, and heavy on exposition of Dickens’ intricate plot. After the release of Doctor Manette (Sean Sinitski) from an 18-year imprisonment in the Bastille, he is returned to the daughter Lucie (Maggie Scrantom), who was born after his arrest. The two of them emigrate from Paris to London to begin a new life. On their journey, they meet a French aristocrat, Charles Darnay (Nicholas Bailey), who, in disapproval of the cruel practices of the aristocracy, has renounced his family and its name. When Darnay is falsely accused of spying for France, the Manettes secure his acquittal with the help of the barrister Sydney Carton (Josh Hambrock), a depressed alcoholic who is said to resemble Darnay. Both men love Lucie, but Darnay is the one to win her hand. Their relationship is threatened when Darnay returns to Paris to help a servant of his family who has been arrested by the revolutionaries, The characters all go to Paris to assist Darnay and then….I won’t spoil the ending for readers who weren’t required to read the novel in high school.

Moore clearly condenses the story, and the cast plays their parts with both humanity and a certain gravitas. Flashiest is the narrator, quite theatrically and charismatically, played by John Henry Roberts. There’s also a terrific comic turn by Katie McLean Hainsworth as Lucie’s maid, Miss Dross. Though the costumes by Elsa Hiltner are elaborate and convincingly period, the first act is more a respectful telling of the well-known story than spectacle. In the second act, though, when the suspense is heightened upon Darnay’s arrest in Paris, Moore and director Elise Kauzlaric start to show us the scope of the tale.  We now see the full cast of ten on stage and it starts to feel like a lot more. As villainous as the aristocrats are, we also see the injustices of mob violence. Dickens as social critic is in full view.

Our high school teachers weren’t wrong in assigning A Tale of Two Cities. Beyond being a good story, it’s timeless as an account of a popular uprising. Such revolts are very much in evidence today, in the Middle East over the past few years and the Ukrainian protests and violent government response the very week this production opened.  Lifeline’s production is a bit bare bones, to be sure, but it compensates with an intimate look at the characters of Dickens’ tale and is a good reason to revisit this classic.

  

Rating: ★★★

  

  

A Tale of Two Cities continues through April 6th at Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood (map), with performances Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 4pm and 8pm, Sundays 4pm.  Tickets are $20-$40, and are available by phone (773-761-4477) or online at PrintTixUSA.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at LifelineTheatre.com.  (Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes, includes an intermission)

Photos by Suzanne Plunkett 

     

artists

cast

Chris Hainsworth (John Barsad, The Marquis St. Evremonde), Katie McLean Hainsworth (Miss Pross), Nicholas Bailey (Charles Darnay), Melissa Engle (The Seamstress), Dan Granata (Monsieur Defarge), Josh Hambrock (Sydney Carton), Carolyn Klein (Madame Defarge), John Henry Roberts (The Resurrection Man), Maggie Scrantom (Lucie Manette), Sean Sinitski (Doctor Manette).

behind the scenes

Elise Kauzlaric (director, dialect coach), Benjamin W. Dawson (production manager), Spencer Ryan Diedrick (assistant director), Diane D. Fairchild (lighting designer), Jesse Gaffney (properties design), Shelby Glasgow (stage manager), Andrew Hansen (original music and sound designer), Matt Hawkins (fight choreography), Elsa Hiltner (costume design), Danny Osburn (master electrician), Joe Schermoly (scenic designer and technical director), Suzanne Plunkett (photos)

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